I bought my first bike, ('72 Sportster XLCH, 7/8" rake on neck, 15" over front end) in a little shop in San Jose, CA in 1973. I rode it out of the shop and the first light I came to, broke the front brake cable. Screw it, chops don't have front brakes, anyway! I tooled around the Bay Area for a week with a Navy bud and then headed back to Idaho Falls to pick my truck up and go to my new ship in Norfolk, VA.
I had no proper riding clothes: one pair blue jeans, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, cheesy white Harley jacket, and a fringed leather hunting jacket. Headed out on I-80 and hadn't reached Sacramento when the bike shut off for several seconds, started back up, shut off, etc. I pulled off into an auto parts store lot and was trying to figure out what was going on when two Hell's Angels pulled up. They asked what was wrong. I described the symptoms and one of them immediately said to check the generator brushes.
The brushes were way too short and were bouncing in the holders, arcing every time they lost contact with the commutator, and eating it up bad. Loss of charging juice drained the battery enough to shut the bike down. One of them ran to a local dealer and brought back some new brushes. We put them in and they told me I'd probably make it to Idaho, but I needed to turn the commutator or, more likely, just get a new armature.
I thanked them profusely and took off. I ran with no lights to help things a bit. As I started up to cross Donner Pass it started snowing. I stopped in every gas station to drink coffee and thaw out. A pump jockey gave me a pair of those wonderful brown cotton work gloves, but they were almost worse than no gloves at all. I made it across the pass and down into Nevada where it warmed back up into the 80s. Sure felt good!
Somewhere in the wilds of Nevada the electrics started acting up again. I hit a town but there was no dealer. (I think there might've been two or three HD dealers in the whole state back then.) I decided to try and go on anyway. Five miles out of that town the engine revved up and the bike slowed down. I looked back at the sprocket and it was spinning like crazy, but I was still slowing down.
I had sheared the rivets that held the sprocket to the brake drum. A cowboy saw me and rode over and offered help. We loaded the bike in his truck and went back to town. He dropped me at a weld shop and the owner tacked the sprocket back on. While he was doing that I went to an auto parts store and found a set of brushes that were close to the right size. I sanded on them 'til they fit the holders, sanded the commutator some, and dug out between the commutator segments. Back on the road again!
I detoured around the Bonneville Salt Flats 'cause I wasn't sure the 2.2 gallon Sporty tank would carry me across. Just as I was pulling into Idaho Falls the rear muffler fell off and disappeared somewhere into the sagebrush. Never could find it. Oh well, I just ripped the other one off and chunked it after the first one. Shorty drag pipes!
That's the end of the first ride on a bike I kept for 9 years. It was as unreliable as any AMF Harley ever made for about 3 of those years. It finally got a complete rebuild when someone stole the frame and front end while I had it apart for a freshening up. It ended up with a Corbin Gentry rigid frame, 10" over Fury girder, 77 inches, cammed, headwork, Lectron carb, and one of the first Sporty belt drives. That old square tooth Gilmer-type belt drive lasted 10 years before finally popping at a drag strip! Totally reliable 'til I sold it to an old friend. He raced it and then sold it to someone else.

 

It's a wonder you kept riding Harleys. Thanks for sharing again. Keep em coming.

 

I almost bought a Triumph Bonneville, then gave about 3 seconds of thought to buying a 750 Honda when I was looking for my first bike. Came to my senses and paid $1000 more for a 1 year old customized and hard ridden Sporty. The problems I had with it were minimal and typical for any hard ridden bike for those days.

My second bike was a '78 FLH 3 speed w/reverse tranny. I put 200k miles on it. Rebuilt the top end at 125k miles. The bike broke a primary belt (my fault - closed primary with no cooling air flow), had a battery fail (my fault - made a stainless steel battery cover that pinched the vent tube), and those were the only 2 times I had to stop and repair it. It cost $3945 new, and I sold it completely torn apart waiting to be rebuilt, for $3000 18 years later.

Present bike has over 100k miles on it. The negative battery cable corroded inside the terminal lug and shut me down about a month after I bought the bike with about 40k miles on it. Base gaskets have been replaced. Neck bearings, wheel bearings, and clutch plates, too. That's it for repairs. It's 18 years old.

I'll stop riding HD when I stop riding period. Wouldn't want it any other way. Won't have it any other way.

 

I hear that!

 

Pococj,

I don't know what your history is (keep reading I'm not insulting), but I thoroughly enjoy your ramblings down memory lane. They are well written, coherent, and fun. I'm amazed at some of the stories. It has been an interesting life on two wheels for you, has it not?

Keep them coming, I enjoy them, even if noone other than Stones does.

I would comment on more of them, except, truthfully, I usually have nothing more than an unintelligible grunt to offer...

Thanks for the time you spend typing them in...

Mac

 

bump